Key points
- Robot to study performing arts design
- AI explores emotional expression through acting
- Scholars debate creativity versus computation
ISLAMABAD: When the Shanghai Theatre Academy (STA) launched its new academic year in September 2025, the spotlight fell not on a star thespian or a rising playwright, but on a singular newcomer unparalleled in its 80‑year history.
Measuring 1.75 metres in height and weighing a mere 30 kilograms, the robot dubbed “Top Scholar 01” walked into the auditorium, its expressive eyes able to blink and frown, its mechanical arms steady, as it accepted its admission letter.
The scene felt less like a routine induction and more like a peek into the future of performing arts education.
How can a robot pursue a PhD?
Immediately, viewers questioned: How can a robot pursue a PhD? What does its training look like? Is the stunt merely publicity or is it a genuine experiment at the nexus of technology and artistry?
The idea for enrolling a humanoid robot onto a doctoral programme emerged from trials conducted by the design team exploring Human‑Robot Interaction (HRI). To test real‑world performance, STA engineers placed the robot in a rehearsal hall with music. To their astonishment, it began to dance in synchrony with the rhythm.
“He just started moving, keeping perfect time with the beat,” recalled Yang Qingqing, the robot’s advisor.
Gaining comprehensive artistic sensibility
Top Scholar 01 has been admitted into a doctoral track in digital performing arts design, a discipline that fuses stagecraft with artificial intelligence and robotics. He is slated to take courses in stage design, directing, acting, and even traditional opera.
“We want him to gain comprehensive artistic sensibility. He will study acting techniques, body expression, and even the subtleties of emotional presentation,” Yang explained. His eyes, powered by cameras, can follow motion, blink naturally, and project concentration by frowning—capabilities that allow him to rehearse in a manner that feels remarkably human.
Governed by an AI brain
Top Scholar 01’s daily routine will mirror that of any doctoral student: he will attend classes, partake in rehearsals, and join workshops. Yet beneath the veneer of normality lies a sophisticated technical support system charged with keeping batteries powered, data updated, and sensors calibrated.
When not in class, he will reside in a laboratory, absorbing training datasets. For movement, he will either follow a preloaded path to seminar rooms or be remotely guided in crowded areas. His battery lasts approximately five hours of active engagement.
Governed by an AI “brain,” he can rehearse and innovate, making subtle adjustments in each performance. With algorithmic fluidity, he is said to approximate the flowing “water sleeves” of Peking Opera—an effect that human performers typically achieve only after years of practice.
Why human students remain sceptical
“The software integrates large language models with image and speech recognition, allowing him to respond naturally in conversations,” said Li Qingdu, head of the design team at the University of Shanghai for Science and Technology. “He can even crack a joke, though we’ve limited his vocabulary to keep interactions polite.”
Yet human students remain sceptical. If AI and robots are destined to replace labourious, exhausting, or menial tasks, is there merit in extending their use into creative, expressive art?
At the 2025 Beijing Culture Forum, Wang Xingxing of Unitree Robotics argued that robots could soon perform stunts in films or appear on stage. As proof of concept, Unitree robots already appeared in the 2025 Spring Festival Gala.
Replacing humans
Such development signals that the trajectory of robotics has exceeded threshold levels—that in a few years, one might not distinguish whether the being across from them is human or machine. Zheng Shuliang of Tsinghua University raised the spectre of the Turing test: “In the next five years, you may not be able to tell whether the person sitting opposite you is actually a humanoid robot.”
Other Chinese robotics firms are already deploying humanoids in real interactions: performances, conversations, and public demonstrations.
Li reiterated that the goal is not for robots to replace humans in the arts, but for their presence to test and expand HRI frontiers. This may then pave the way for robots to assume higher‑risk roles such as stunt work or elderly care.
Key limitations of the robot artist
Kong Peipei, a deputy director at the Chinese National Academy of Arts, remarked that while robot participation in traditional opera is experimental, the emotional exchange between performers and audience remains central to the theatre’s appeal. Technological displays alone cannot substitute the resonance of live human performance.
“Robots can digitise intangible cultural heritage and probe human emotion,” Kong said. “But beyond that, the essence of performance—empathy, context, cultural meaning—is inherently human.”
Huang Shenwen, a student who interacted with Top Scholar 01, offered a perspective: “Rather than a rival, Scholar 01 is more like a catalyst. He pushes me to think about what makes human creativity irreplaceable.” Technical tasks may be automated, but the imaginative core of art retains its uniqueness.
Ethical crossroads
As humanoid robots encroach further into creative realms, familiar dilemmas emerge: the uncanny valley—the disquiet humans feel when machines approach lifelike form. More broadly, society must decide where to draw boundaries around creativity, authorship, and accountability.
“AI evolves at a pace no one can fully predict,” Yang said. “In four years, we don’t know how far he will have progressed. But the process itself—documenting how a machine learns art alongside humans and develops richer HRI—is the most valuable outcome.”
Top Scholar 01’s enrollment is no mere stunt. It is a bold experiment at the interface of art, technology, and humanity, raising profound questions about the future of performance, intelligence, and what it truly means to be creative.
